Canada/Maine, Maine/Canada? (Presque Isle, Caribou: unemployment rate, taxes, live in)

[Griffis]

I'm jst curious: are there people who live in Canada and work in Maine, or vice-versa?

It doesn't look like it's too far from towns like Presque Isle or Caribou to the border.

Do any of you who live up that way go to Canada often for shopping or other activities? Is it hard to cross the border?

[Bydand]

Originally Posted by Griffis

I'm jst curious: are there people who live in Canada and work in Maine, or vice-versa?

It doesn't look like it's too far from towns like Presque Isle or Caribou to the border.

Do any of you who live up that way go to Canada often for shopping or other activities? Is it hard to cross the border?

Yes I know several people who live in Canada and work over here.

Anywhere along the eastern side of the State is very close to the border. Fort Fairfield sits right on the border and is only 10-12 miles from either Caribou or Presque Isle.

I used to go over a couple of times a week, but haven't been over there for a long time now. My regular Dentist used to be over there even, but I've changed to one Stateside now. I manly go over for a Donair now and again. Prices are generally higher and the now that their dollar is stronger than ours there is even less of a reason to go over. Our stores here are packed with Canadian license plates now, and I don't blame them one bit.

[Maine Writer]

Crossing the border is easy. Right now you might or might not be asked for picture ID. You're asked where you're from, where you're going, how long you'll be there, do you have anything to declare in the vehicle, how many people in the vehicle, a permission note from children's parents if they're not yours and have a nice day. It usually takes me less than two minutes.

[mollysmiles]

Calais is a border town. We have many Canadians employed here, and there a few Americans working over there as well. When our dollar was strong compared to theirs Canadians preferred working here. It can be a problem though when we look at our unemployment rate, and Canadians are working so many American jobs. Right now, Ganong's Candy is hiring, and advertising on both sides of the border.

Border crossing right now isn't difficult due to requirements, but it is time consuming. With the Canadian dollar being so strong, Canadians are doing a lot of their shopping over here. The bridges on their side coming over are difficult at times. The third bridge will relieve that quite a bit, and we won't see the congestion in the downtown areas of Calais and St. Stephen, NB. We cross quite a bit. We do some shopping, but not a lot. Taxes over there are outrageous, and while we can file a form and get them back, it's just one more thing to have to do really. When we vacation over there, we do file to get them back. Those taxes add up to quite a bit of money over the course of a week!